Chapter 343: Bread and Dagger (41)
Chapter 343: Bread and Dagger (41)
Le. O. Ric.
Those three syllables pierced my heart with peculiar intensity. Whether it was fate or mere intuition, I couldn't say.
Some animalistic instinct was forewarning me.
That at the end of this story, I would be the one holding a blade to his throat.
However, a lingering concern remained.
It was the fact that Veneta was being far too cooperative.
Immediately after her defeat, she had been a woman ready to throw her life away in defiance. It was difficult to understand why she was suddenly spilling information so freely.
Tap, tap. My index finger began to drum against the table.
Was she lying?
Yet, looking at Veneta’s face, I couldn't detect a single crack in her composure.
It didn't seem like she was being untruthful.
Of course, there was the possibility that Veneta had undergone special training—for instance, learning how to weave false testimony in the event of capture.
The decision to have Senior Neris standing by my side was made with that exact possibility in mind.
She was a professional, trained in the art of intelligence.
At the very least, she would be able to catch subtle signs better than I could.
I cast a glance toward Senior Neris, but the result was negative.
It meant she hadn't sensed anything unusual either.
If that was the case, I had no choice but to accept Veneta’s testimony as truth for now.
Trying to verify it immediately would be a waste of time anyway. Veneta’s testimony was destined to undergo the Princess's scrutiny regardless.
The 'Dragon's Eye' reflects the psychology of others.
There was no ability better suited for discerning truth from falsehood.
Having reached a conclusion, my voice dropped an octave.
It was the signal that the formal interrogation was beginning.
The first question I threw out was concise.
"…Lord Leoric? And a sacrifice?"
"Yes, Lord Leoric… Did you not know? He was originally human. He even belonged to the Yurdina army."
Her answer was laced with mockery.
The content was so absurd that for a moment, I wondered if Veneta was playing a prank on me.
A hollow laugh escaped my lips.
"Then isn't he your enemy?"
There was no immediate reply to my point.
Veneta simply kept her mouth shut and stared at me in silence.
Her gaze was still steeped in hatred. It meant that while she was cooperating for some reason, her resentment toward humanity remained.
And yet, she used the honorific 'Lord' for a man who was once an enemy.
It was bound to be confusing for me.
"What exactly do you think of us elves?"
"A band of murderers who plunder and torment the innocent people of the North. And lately, I hear you've taken to devouring your own kind?"
The mockery was thrown back at her like an act of revenge.
It was also the prevailing perception within the Empire. Through the long years of war, humanity and the elves had crossed a point of no return; now, they killed each other the moment they crossed paths.
Veneta couldn't have been unaware of this.
However, my second jab seemed unexpected, as she flinched visibly.
It was the first sign of agitation she had shown.
Soon, her face contorted, and she hurriedly tried to offer an excuse.
"Th-that's a misunderstanding…!"
"I don't give a damn about misunderstandings. Tell me about this Leoric person and the sacrifice."
Naturally, I had no intention of listening to her long-winded excuses.
Veneta shot me a look of blatant dissatisfaction at my prickly attitude. Not that I was going to entertain her complaints.
In the end, the elven woman had no choice but to let out a long sigh.
She had realized I wasn't someone she could win an argument against.
Only then was I able to hear the more detailed circumstances.
"I suppose that's how you want to see us. Filthy devils who invade and steal your livelihoods… But that is merely a stigma you have forced upon us."
"And Leoric is the proof of that?"
"Yes. When we first found the unconscious chaplain… honestly, I thought about killing him. Everyone was on edge since it was right after a battle."
"But you didn't."
"Because he gave us bread."
It was an answer that was somewhat difficult to understand in context.
My steady stream of questioning faltered. Instead, I crossed my arms and let out a small hum of thought.
Fortunately, Veneta seemed to have some modicum of social awareness.
Judging that further explanation was needed, the woman added to her story at a leisurely pace.
"It is an old tradition of us elves… 'Bread for bread, a dagger for a dagger.' It means to repay kindness with kindness, and hostility with hostility. And the reason Lord Leoric was unconscious was because he was trying to save an elven child."
"So you repaid the kindness?"
"Yes, because we are elves."
There was a strange sense of pride in her tone.
I almost let out a scoff, but I caught myself.
There was no reason to provoke her unnecessarily.
Instead, I dug into the point that piqued my curiosity.
"But a chaplain offering sacrifices? You could just use the demonic beast corpses scattered everywhere. Why the need to bring in a rare demonic beast from the far south…?"
"It is a special ritual."
A 'special ritual,' huh.
I quietly etched that information into my mind. I planned to seek advice from the Saintess and Emma regarding this.
Priests of the Heavenly God Religion sometimes offered sacrifices as well. It was usually to bring about miracles that were beyond their natural capacity.
Was I not the living proof of that?
I had faced death multiple times until now. The reason I was able to survive every single time was thanks to the Saintess offering precious sacrifices to bring me back.
So, the testimony that a sacrifice was needed wasn't problematic in itself.
However, I didn't know if there was a specific ritual that required a specific type of sacrifice. I would have to ask the Saintess about that.
Furthermore, Avian's case weighed on my mind.
The biological modification she had suffered belonged to the realm of alchemy. If so, there was no guarantee that this 'special ritual' wasn't related to alchemy as well.
It was a relief that Senior Elsie had found the two-headed snake.
Internally offering a word of thanks to Senior Elsie, I asked again.
"Is Leoric the only one who can perform this special ritual?"
"Yes. He is also the one practically leading the elves of the coniferous forest."
"But why?"
The fundamental question.
As I drove home another inquiry like a needle, Veneta gazed at me blankly.
"What kind of effect does this special ritual have? It makes no sense for an outsider to rise as the practical leader of a race."
"Haven't you already said it yourself?"
Veneta let a faint smile play on her lips, as if asking why I even needed to inquire.
For a split second, I saw a hallucination of a snake's tongue flickering behind the woman.
My brow furrowed naturally.
"Eating one's own kind… Yes, I suppose it could be seen that way."
"I heard. That you take disabled or elderly elves as sacrifices to eat the 'fruit'… Wasn't it disgusting?"
"It was disgusting."
Heh, heh. Veneta let out a weak laugh.
A faint, crazed light flickered in her eyes.
Amidst her wavering emotions, I saw shards of fishy despair.
"Have you ever starved? We elves have suffered through hunger countless times. Over the course of hundreds of years… your whole body becomes lethargic, your blood dries up, and eventually, your consciousness starts to flicker. All while having no idea what you've done."
"So you killed your own kind?"
"Killed?"
The woman spoke with an expression of genuine confusion.
Deep within that gaze, I could feel a certain spark.
Madness.
"You don't know. Hundreds of years… to have to suffer like that for hundreds of years! We didn't know. We thought living was simply a good thing. That it was a grace bestowed by the World Tree… Then one day, Lord Leoric came to us."
Her voice had suddenly begun to heat up.
That confession of faith, soaked in yearning, soon reached its peak. Thud! Her hands, bound by restraints, slammed onto the table.
Senior Neris was so startled she almost moved to suppress her.
Though she didn't follow through because I held her back.
By now, the elven woman's eyes were bloodshot.
"He gave us his teachings. That we were actually arrogant… Life was not a blessing. If anything, it's a prison. We are living in order to die."
"So you killed them?"
"Please call it 'liberation'."
Veneta, wearing a thin smile, seemed to truly believe those words.
I took the surging emotions within me and expressed them in the most refined language possible.
"That's a leap in logic. If death is so great, why not just commit mass suicide? Why sacrifice the weak just to continue this harsh life?"
"I told you, life itself is the punishment… If a prisoner escapes before their sentence is over, what do you think happens to them?"
It was a cowardly justification.
Because they are weak, they must be saved first.
The gist of her argument was that they were liberated from the prison of life through their special ritual, while the remaining ones had to endure their harsh existence.
A tattered logic, filled with leaps and exaggerations.
But faith does not exist in the realm of logic.
Veneta argued vehemently.
"Do we look miserable and pathetic to you? Then what about you people who made us this way… Do you have any right to condemn us?!"
"Not everyone becomes a coward just because they're pushed to the edge of a cliff."
"We weren't like this at first, either."
With a deep exhale, Veneta relaxed her tense body.
She leaned back against the chair and offered a mournful smile.
As if lamenting her own fate.
"Lord Leoric was a good person. He cherished the girl he saved like an adopted daughter. He adapted quickly to the elven village and became our only priest."
"Then why on earth would a man like that…?"
"Because that elven girl died."
I stopped what I was about to say.
My gaze and Veneta’s met in midair.
The elf had a look of hollow emptiness in her eyes.
"Because you people burned down our village, our food disappeared. We tried to endure for a long time, but the north wind always takes the most fragile first."
I gritted my teeth at the faint resentment bleeding through her words. It was a spinal reflex.
A low growl escaped my throat.
"The Empire does not strike first. If villages were burned, it's because you lot attacked us first."
"Is that so? You can believe whatever you want. However… remember this. Bread and daggers."
With that, Veneta leaned forward with a weary face. A helpless laugh escaped her lips.
"Today, I gave you bread."
"What are you talking about?"
"You spared Matis. Thank you. You might not be able to tell the difference, but… Matis is still very young. He has a lot of life left to live."
It was a profoundly contradictory statement.
She claimed death was 'liberation,' yet she was thankful Matis was saved?
Just as I was about to snap at her broken logic.
The elf gave a mournful smile.
"That's why I answered you sincerely at the end. There wasn't a single lie mixed in. I could swear it upon the World Tree."
It was good news, but her tone was strangely unsettling.
I swallowed a hollow laugh and spoke flippantly.
"The end? I still have plenty I want to ask."
"If you've received bread, you should be prepared to receive a dagger now."
Her words were calm.
But because they were laced with a strange certainty, I fell silent for a moment.
My eyes stared blankly at Veneta.
It felt as if time around us had stopped.
A heavy, sluggish flow made the hair on my arms stand up one by one.
I felt a pressure weighing down on my lungs.
"Then, I'll ask just one last thing."
Veneta shook her head, as if she didn't want to answer anymore.
The woman faced me with a bright smile.
"I can't. I told you, right? This is the last—"
"What did you do?"
Veneta’s breathing hitched.
Looking into those light-green eyes staring at me without a word, a strange sense of urgency rose within me. Just as I was about to press her again.
"Isn't it strange? When night falls, it's as if I'm no longer myself."
Aah. Veneta opened her mouth and stuck out her tongue.
There, a disgusting lump of flesh was nestled. A hideous eye, stickily attached with mucous membranes and blood vessels.
The moment Veneta closed her mouth, it disappeared back down her throat.
Veneta gave a bright smile. It was a beautiful smile, befitting a member of the race of beauty.
"It's a tracking device. You should have just killed me sooner. Like that old man said…"
The woman's words didn't finish.
Because before she could, my hand axe crushed Veneta’s skull.
Blood and bits of flesh splattered, staining the clothes and furniture. But I didn't have the luxury to worry about such things.
Biting my lip, I stood up. Senior Neris also hurriedly turned and dashed out of the tent.
Then, the long blast of a horn echoed.
It was the signal in the North that announced a battle.
Whether it was a sortie or an ambush.
"The elves are launching a night raid!"
The time of blood and death had arrived.
An uncontrollable torrent was sweeping me away.